Selected rows or columns of adjacent cells in computer tabular data such as a spreadsheet can be hidden to allow a user to reduce the amount of information that might be distracting. The prior art before the present invention is limited in its ability to allow the user to focus on arbitrary regions of data in the spreadsheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,356 issued Oct. 19, 1993 to Michelman et al. for METHOD FOR HIDING AND SHOWING SPREADSHEET CELLS, discloses a method for hiding and showing spreadsheet cells of a worksheet being displayed on a computer system display means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,538 issued Sep. 12, 1995 to Glaser et al. for GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE CONTROL FOR EXPANSION AND RE-SIZING OF DATA FIELDS IN FORMS discloses a computer interface system employing a menu-graphical user interface for the entry of text data in a data store receiving user inputs for controlling the graphical user interface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,168 issued Sep. 7, 1999 to Simborg et al. for COLLAPSIBLE FLOWSHEET FOR DISPLAYING PATIENT INFORMATION IN AN ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD discloses a user interface which presents patient data on a computer display to a health care provider as a flowsheet including an array of category labels with indications of whether the category is in a collapsed state or an expanded state.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,585 issued Jul. 4, 2000 to Kraft et al. for SYSTEM FOR DIRECTLY ACCESSING FIELDS ON ELECTRONIC FORMS, discloses a computer system which provides a graphical user interface to assist a user in completing electronic forms.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,759 issued Sep. 5, 2000 to Sugimura et al. for SYSTEM FOR DISPLAYING DESIRED PORTIONS OF A SPREADSHEET ON A DISPLAY SCREEN BY ADJOINING THE DESIRED PORTIONS WITHOUT THE NEED FOR INCREASING THE MEMORY CAPACITY discloses a data processing apparatus having a spreadsheet data storing section for storing spreadsheet data, a spreadsheet creating section for creating a spreadsheet consisting of at least one row and at least one column and a display section for displaying the spreadsheet on a screen. The data processing apparatus includes an inputting section for designating a row or a column to be subjected to a non-display operation, a non-display controlling section for removing row or column data in the non-display operation, and controlling the display section to display a modified spreadsheet by moving rows or columns previously located adjacent to the removed row or column into adjoining relation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,438,565 B1 issued Aug. 20, 2002 to Ammirato et al. for SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR IMPROVED SCENARIO MANAGEMENT IN AN ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET discloses an electronic spreadsheet including a scenario manager having a preferred interface and method for creating and managing various versions or scenarios of a spreadsheet model. Methods are provided for specifying an area of the model to track and capture various versions of the base model.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,711,715 B1 issued Mar. 23, 2004 to Grealish for METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT STORAGE AND RESTORATION OF DISPLAY STATE DATA discloses storage and restoration of display state data for a display object having a display state that can be altered by display state changes made to other display objects in a hierarchical data structure where the display state of the display object being stored has more than on superior display object.
U.S. Patent Application Publication Number US 2003/0188256 A1, published Oct. 2, 2003 by Augeglia et al. for SYSTEM AND METHOD IN AN ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET FOR COPYING AND POSTING DISPLAYED ELEMENTS OF A RANGE CELLS, and US 2003/0188257 A1, US 2003/0188258 A1, and US 2003/188259 A1 published Oct. 2, 2003 by Aureglia et al. for SYSTEM AND METHOD IN AN ELECTRONIC SPREADSHEET FOR DISPLAYING AND/OR HIDING RANGE OF CELLS, all disclose a method, system and computer program for copying and pasting, in an electronic multidimensional spreadsheet, displayed elements of a source range of cells onto a destination range of cells, the source range of cells including one or more elements displayed on a user interface and one or more hidden elements, the elements being contiguous and aligned along a given spreadsheet dimension.
European Patent Application EP 1 256 890 A2 published Nov. 13, 2002 for Vosheli for SYSTEMS AND METHODS PROVIDING DYNAMIC SPREADSHEET FUNCTIONALITY discloses a system and method for supporting and/or enabling the creation of dynamic reports and/or data presentations in connection with a spreadsheet-based formatting and calculation capabilities. The disclosed system and method generally include an electronic spreadsheet having a plurality of cells that are arrayed in a defined number of columns and rows, a database in communication with the electronic spreadsheet, and an expansion formula that functions to control retrieval of data from the database and automatically varies/expands at least one of the defined number of columns and rows to accommodate the data retrieval.
An article by Torres, SPREADSHEET DATA VISUALIZATION, Research Disclosure n334 02-92 (February 1992) discusses techniques to enhance processing of spreadsheet or deficiencies including the spreadsheet to be oriented along different axes in order to see the data from different perspectives, and to allow temporary hide/remove/add of rows and columns, as well as zoom in/out.